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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25634602">Band Practice</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jewboykahl/pseuds/jewboykahl'>jewboykahl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>South Park</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aged-Up Character(s), Fluff and Humor, M/M, One Shot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:47:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,321</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25634602</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jewboykahl/pseuds/jewboykahl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After hearing Butters mention he has a thing for drummers, Kenny decides it's time to get his band back together.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kenny McCormick/Leopold "Butters" Stotch</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>102</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Band Practice</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Over the years, Kenny and his friends had conducted many various get-rich-quick schemes. They had tried projects such as shoveling snow, walking dogs, creating a detective agency, forming a Peruvian flute band, but all those attempts seemed to fail. However, the plan he had just come up with seemed completely fool-proof.<br/>“I don’t know, I just feel like we’ve tried this before.” Kyle spoke as he adjusted the strap of his father’s bass guitar.<br/>Stan shrugged, “Yeah, but, I mean, it can’t hurt. We haven’t done anything fun in a while.”<br/>“It’ll be awesome, you guys.” Kenny assured them. The four best friends were in the midst of reforming their childhood band, Moop. “If we get halfway decent, we can actually play in front of people this time.”<br/>“Alright, assholes,” the fourth member of their band announced on entering the garage. Eric approached the microphone after changing his wardrobe, now clad in skin-tight red jeans, a black dress shirt unbuttoned down his chest and a jean jacket over it. Dark, circular sunglasses made it impossible to see where his brown eyes were fixed and admittedly made it nearly impossible for him to see himself. “Let’s make a million dollars.”<br/>“Oh, my god,” Kyle groaned, slapping a hand over his face. “How the hell did you even manage to shove your ass into those?”<br/>“Shut up, Kyle! I look sexy.” He shot back, combing his brunette fringe from his eyes.<br/>The redhead shook his head in shame of his friend, “That’s a word for it. What are we even gonna play, Ken?”<br/>“Do you guys still remember our rock covers? Like, Hendrix and Boston?” Kenny suggested with a raised eyebrow.<br/>“Uh, not really.” Kyle admitted. Truly, he barely remembered how to even play the bass in general.<br/>With a dry chuckle, Stan chimed in, “I don’t even remember what the strings are called, dude.”<br/>Rolling his eyes, Kenny set his drumsticks across the snare and stared daggers at his friends. “Am I the only one who gives a shit about this?”<br/>“Obviously chunky Ozzy Osbourne over there is really into it,” Stan disagreed as Kyle continued to cast a disgusting glare at Eric as he stood at the microphone stand with his hip jutted out.<br/>Eric growled, “Quit fatshaming me, you guys. It’s seriously immature.”<br/>“We’re not shaming you for only your weight, Cartman.” Kyle assured with a mockingly sweet smile.<br/>After briefly chuckling at Kyle’s retort and Eric’s physical retaliation, Stan whirled around to cock an eyebrow about his blond friend behind the drum set. “Why do you give a shit?”<br/>Drawing out a sigh and attempting to neglect the tinge of blush he could already feel creeping across his freckled cheeks at the prospect of unveiling his intentions for the band, Kenny twisted back in forth on the stool and shrugged, “I don’t know, man, I just kinda miss playin’ the drums. It’s therapeutic to beat the shit out of something.”<br/>“You sure that’s it?” Stan pressed with a knowing grin as they both drowned out the sounds of Kyle and Eric physically accosting one another. “You’re positive this has nothing to do with how Butters said he thought drummers were super hot the other day?”<br/>Cursing how well his friend knew him and how his skin felt even hotter, he raised an abashed smirk up at Stan and huffed. Since Kenny was so adamant about randomly reforming their rock band that had been dead for ages, it was quite simple to deduce his ulterior motives. Stan was the very first person to know about Kenny’s unfortunate crush on Butters Stotch, their tiny, blond, perpetually grounded neighborhood friend.<br/>With an understanding nod, Stan turned to the brawling pair of Moop members and shouted over their grunts and swears, “C’mon, guys, let’s practice!”<br/>A far off smile stretching his mouth, Kenny watched as Stan reigned in Kyle and Eric and everyone prepared their instruments and ears for a terrifying noise to escape them. They attempted a run through of Purple Haze first, and the results were nothing short of horrendous. Instead of frustrated, however, Kenny was cracking up in the end along with the rest of his friends.<br/>“Yeah, I think a little rusty is definitely an understatement,” said Kenny.<br/>Eric shrugged, “I sounded great.”<br/>_<br/>Two weeks into the reformation of Moop and there was considerable progress (especially Kyle and Stan, who honed in on their past Guitar Hero skills). They were now able to successfully make it through two songs with few hiccups, and Eric didn’t sound half bad, although he remained insistent on wearing those ghastly sunglasses during each performance.<br/>As the student body melted into the small high school’s cafeteria for their allotted thirty minutes for lunch, the boys found themselves at a table with a few fellow classmates: Tweek, Craig, and Butters. Kenny’s heart gave an involuntary flutter when Butters granted him a toothy grin from across the bench.<br/>The friends delved into casual conversations while taking brief moments to inhale more food. Nearly halfway through the period, Butters addressed Kenny with his small, sweet voice in an inquisitive tone, “Hey, Ken, what’ve you got planned for tonight?”<br/>“I, uh—“Kenny stammered, shooting a glance over to Kyle as if he would provide the proper reply. Considering it was a Thursday, he knew he had a committed band practice to attend, but it was never easy telling Butters he had already been booked for the day.<br/>Thankfully, Stan saved him the agony, “You better not make plans, we have Moop rehearsals!”<br/>Kenny nodded to Butters, grimacing sardonically, “That.”<br/>Butters perked his head at them, “Moop?”<br/>“Yeah, we started our band up again,” Kenny clarified, attempting to be nonchalant.<br/>“That’s gay.” Craig inserted himself into the interaction.<br/>Eric retorted, “Says the guy holding his boyfriend’s hand!”<br/>Craig flipped him off, and Kenny gave an amused smirk to the interaction before returning his attention to his crush, “You could come be our very first groupie if you want.”<br/>Butters’s eyes widened, “Well, Ken, I don’t think I can have sex with all of you.”<br/>Stan choked on his water, Kenny quickly laughed it off and assured him, “No, no, just me, cutie.”<br/>Letting out a sigh, Butters caught on to the joke, “Well, sure, then, I’d love to come watch Moop do their thing!”<br/>“Sweet. Moop will see you in Cartman’s garage after school, then.” Kenny grinned, becoming excited-nervous. On returning to their respective classes, Kyle forced Kenny to pause and watched Butters scamper off to a reasonable distance before he questioned in an accusatory tone, “Was that the whole point of you making us be a band again?! So you can get in Butters’s pants?”<br/>Kenny gasped sarcastically, “I would never!”<br/>With a dramatic eye roll, Kyle shoved his arm and fought an amused smile. “You’re a fucking dick! If you would have told me you needed me to embarrass myself on the bass guitar so you can get laid I would have told you to just ask him out already.”<br/>“When have we ever made things simple, Kyle?” Eric inquired with an equally disgruntled expression focused up at Kenny.<br/>“Fair point,” Kyle grunted. “For once.”<br/>_<br/>If he would have thought about this scenario logically, Kenny would have felt no nerves. This was just a kid coming to their unprofessional band’s practice in a garage where it’s completely fine to screw up; however, it felt much more like a cute boy coming to judge his every move that will inevitably make or break their potential romantic relationship. Considering the close proximity of their homes to South Park High School, the five friends ambled to the Cartman residence all together when the school day had drawn to a close. A majority of the walk was spent with Kenny silently contemplating his fate.<br/>On reaching their practice area, the small talk continued as each member prepared their respective instrument and Butters claimed a stool towards the opening of the space. Kenny couldn’t help but throw glances at him every few seconds, and each time he did so, he found a pair of bright blue eyes gazing back intently. It made his stomach flutter juvenilely.<br/>“Let’s just warm up with a full song, yeah?” Kyle suggested, peering around for confirmation from his bandmates. When it was unanimous that they would commence this session with one of the extremely limited songs they could all perform decently, Stan began picking his at his six-strings and Kyle was soon to follow.<br/>Kenny’s heart dropped as he gripped the long, wooden drumsticks in his clammy grasp and attempted to recall which drum to smack while simultaneously drowning in the thought that Butters was not only scrutinizing their performance as a whole, but staring directly at him. It was such a high expectation to meet, or so he fretted.<br/>He couldn’t quite recall when he even began admiring Butters in a more-than-friends way. He could not even decide if it was gradual or all of a sudden. There just came a time when he started to see that weird kid they hang around sometimes with terrible parents as something much more. Now in his eyes, Butters is sweet and empathetic and individualistic and absolutely adorable. The only issue was it was much harder to express how he felt as opposed to when he was a younger child.<br/>When their first song came to an end, Butters clapped for them enthusiastically. All amused (and somewhat bashful), the band decided on their next song and performed it with Butters bobbing his head up and down. Kenny noticed him mouthing the words to a Beatles song they attempted, and laughing along with them when Stan continuously flubbed the melody.<br/>“Alright, time to hydrate.” Eric declared after a half hour or so.<br/>Kyle rolled his eyes, “How is he already a fucking diva?” Stan followed with a chuckle, leaving Kenny and Butters by themselves.<br/>Suddenly his throat was much tighter, and Butters was much closer. Kenny twirled his drumstick between his fingers absentmindedly and flicked his brown eyes up to meet his crush’s. The smaller, non-drumming blond beamed at Kenny and questioned, “Is it hard? Playin’ drums and all,”<br/>“Not really,” Kenny admitted, “The hardest part is just being able to multitask. Do you want to try it?”<br/>“Oh, no, I ain’t got any idea how to drum.” Butters assured, although he did not look so sure himself.<br/>Smirking, Kenny stood and beckoned him behind the set, “That’s why I’ll teach you.”<br/>Noting the adorable rosy tinge creeping across Butters’s pallor cheeks as he timidly took the stool previously holding his weight, Kenny grabbed a dusty wooden chair from behind him and dragged it to a position directly behind. He ignored the tremendous pounding of his heart and gingerly seized Butters’s small hands. “Alright, so, this is the traditional hold… it’s the one I always do, it’s pretty simple…”<br/>“Like this?” Butters asked innocently after mimicking Kenny’s instructions.<br/>Kenny nodded, “Perfect. Alright, so I’ll just show you how to do some simple notes… Like this—counting is really important,”<br/>With his hands guiding Butters’s from behind, they tapped the tip of the drumsticks against the middle of the snare drum in a repetitive pattern. Neither of the boys keen on moving from that position, with Kenny’s chest pressed against Butters back and their fingers rubbing against one another’s’. There was an undeniable element of mutual comfort shared by the two teenagers. Kenny did not even have the capacity to hope that the other boys did not interrupt them anytime soon; there was only one thing in his universe that mattered for that time being, and it was being so close to Butters he could press his lips to his ear.<br/>“Hey, Ken?” Butters spoke softly, politely interrupting the larger boy’s mini-lesson.<br/>Kenny’s eyes darted to him, who had now twisted his torso to see his face. “Yeah?”<br/>The confidence in Butters’s tone was fleeting. Kenny wanted to reinstate it within him, and somehow his fingers did the trick by giving his a gentle squeeze. A small smile stretched Butters’s lips and he began quietly again, as if discussing the most pertinent secret he had ever been privy to. “You knew I like drummers, didn’t you?”<br/>Kenny’s heart did a backflip into the pit of his stomach. He didn’t realize how dry his mouth had been until he attempted to get out some sort of response. Managing a, “Yeah…” he dreaded what Butters would have to say next.<br/>He didn’t say a thing. In fact, the reply was much more vivid and satisfying than any sort of words strewn together could have ever been. After watching his adorable face light up, he felt a pair of soft lips attaching themselves to his and one of the small hands he had previously been clutching his drumstick on the nape of his neck. Kenny’s newly freed hand instinctively clutched Butters’ elbow as he fluttered his eyelids shut and dissolved in the indescribable, tingling feeling he experienced throughout his being.<br/>“Just sayin’,” Butters huffed softly after reeling away after the kiss, “I’ve always liked Kenny McCormick’s a lot more than I like drummers.”<br/>In a vague state of pleasant shock, Kenny smiled widely down at Butters and returned, “Good. I don’t see Moop having much of a future in the music industry.”<br/>“Not to be rude, but…” Butters scrunched his nose, shaking his head distastefully.<br/>Kenny chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “You were my only goal in this plan, so,”<br/>“You could have just asked me out, Ken. I’m pretty sure you were the only one that didn’t know I’ve been crushin’ on you since middle school.” Butters revealed matter-of-fact.<br/>While this information would have been great to be aware of, Kenny somehow wishes for nothing less of everything that led up to this moment. “When have I ever made things simple?”</p>
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